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Kootenai language and skills camp keeps growing, overflowing

By Maggie Plummer

Last week's 3rd Annual Kootenai Language and Ancestral Skills Day Camp in Elmo was a huge hit.

One of the hard-working instructors at last week’s Kootenai Language and Ancestral Skills Day Camp in Elmo was Junior Caye, who taught the boys how to make bows. Here, 12-year-old Laine Twigg (right) of Grasmere, British Columbia (the Tobacco Plains Band of Kootenai) and nine-year-old D. J. Gravelle from the Kootenai Band of Idaho watch and listen as Junior shows them how to shape a bow. (Maggie Plummer photo)

Some of the young day campers would like to have the camp last for a whole month. Many of them didn't want to go home each evening of the camp.

Just about every Kootenai family in Elmo was represented at the camp, with most participating the whole week.

Organizers said that the weeklong event was probably 40 percent bigger than last year's.

In fact, it was overflowing, they said. The pink hall was buzzing with activity.

According to members of the Kootenai Language Advisory Committee, much of this year's increase in day campers was due to many more local youngsters attending.

"It's really good," they said. But it was also challenging, since many more campers showed up than were expected. That means a lot of children to find places for, provide materials for, and feed.

Some estimated that more than 200 youngsters took part in the day camp, many of them traveling to Elmo from Idaho and British Columbia.

Making a miniataure Sally Bag takes patience. (Maggie Plummer photo)

The other Kootenai bands don't have anything like Elmo's annual language and ancestral skills day camp, organizers said.

Some people camped at the powwow grounds in Elmo, some stayed in Polson, and others were staying with families in Elmo and Dayton.

The first day, camp leaders had participants do an exercise about what their Indian name is.

The kids sang songs in Kootenai, led by the elders as well as Francis Auld and Rosemary Caye. Campers learned a total of five songs, which come from Kootenai legends.

Language Advisory Committee members posted a sign on the door, warning youngsters that if they ran in the hall, they would be required to sing a song solo. But that backfired in the cutest way when some of the children began eagerly raising their hands and saying, "I ran in the hall, too!" so they could sing solo as well.

Thursday afternoon, campers were finishing up their crafts projects, from sally bags to roaches to bows.

Under the guidance of instructor Junior Caye, the boys carved their own play bows, which they said took a half-day each. They used alder and willow for the small bows, Junior explained, because those woods are easier to work with.

Ewe and juniper are used for larger "real" bows, he said. They're harder wood. Some of the older participants were carving large juniper bows.

"They like it so much, they come every year," Junior said of his young students.

Ig Couture made these stickgame figures and donated them to the Kootenai Culture Program. (Maggie Plummer photo)

Instructor Ig Couture helped people work bake-able sculpting clay into all sorts of creations. His very popular table was crowded Thursday afternoon as campers finished up their miniature figures and necklace items such as feathers, hearts, and pendants.

He baked the clay things in a little toaster oven right at the table, and provided beads so participants could complete their necklaces.

Committee members credit everyone who helps at the camp - language teachers, skills instructors, kitchen staff - with the camp's success. Various tribal programs pitch in lots of help, they said.

The kitchen workers, from the Tribes' Department of Human Resource Development (DHRD), are essential to the camp, serving each day's continental breakfast, sack lunches, and evening meals such as soup and frybread.

The young campers make the fry bread and other things as part of their lessons. This year, the boys earned a reputation for being great at producing fluffy, light bread.

Campers also did dry meat cutting, thanks to Orsino Walker, who donated two huge elk.

Another reason the camp is popular and successful is that every year different skills are taught. People come up with ideas and the Language Advisory Committee develops the agenda. If the camp offered the same things every year, interest in it would fade, organizers believe.

Some Salish Kootenai College students participated in the camp for college credit, seizing an opportunity to learn about the Ktunaxa culture.

This year's enthusiastic young campers were given a "Ksanka Coloring Book," and a CD with the Kootenai alphabet to take home.

That way they can keep working on their language skills, and come back even stronger for next year's camp.